The Abomination of Desolation - St. Marys Coptic Orthodox Church
The Abomination of Desolation - St. Marys Coptic Orthodox Church
The Abomination of Desolation - St. Marys Coptic Orthodox Church
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68<br />
THE UNHOLY TRINITY<br />
<strong>The</strong> danger <strong>of</strong> this heresy lies in the confusion it will produce in the mind<br />
at the coming <strong>of</strong> Antichrist, who will actually claim that he is Christ<br />
coming for his thousand year reign on earth.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Bible and the Fathers tell us that Christ has two advents, one for<br />
salvation when he died on the Cross, rose from the dead, ascended to<br />
heaven after promising us to come again for judgment. <strong>The</strong>re is no<br />
intermediate coming <strong>of</strong> Christ.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Second Coming <strong>of</strong> Christ will be on the clouds (Matt 24:30,<br />
26:64, Mark 13:26, 14:62, I <strong>The</strong>s 4:17, Rev 1:7) He will not come down<br />
to earth but will “send his angels with a great sound <strong>of</strong> a trumpet, and<br />
they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end <strong>of</strong><br />
heaven to the other.” (Matt 24:31) And, if we are alive at the second<br />
coming <strong>of</strong> Christ we will be “caught up together with them in the clouds,<br />
to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (I<br />
<strong>The</strong>s 4:17) In short, He shall not come down to earth, we shall go up to<br />
meet Him in the clouds.<br />
<strong>The</strong> early Fathers <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Church</strong> spared no effort to remind us that<br />
the Second Coming <strong>of</strong> Christ will not be from the earth but rather from<br />
heaven.<br />
This Jesus Christ who is gone up shall come again, not from earth but<br />
from heaven: and I say, "not from earth," because there are many<br />
Antichrists to come at this time from earth. For already, as thou hast<br />
seen, many have begun to say, I am the Christ: and the <strong>Abomination</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
desolation is yet to come, assuming to himself the false title <strong>of</strong> Christ.<br />
But look thou for the true Christ, the Only-begotten Son <strong>of</strong> God, coming<br />
henceforth no more from earth, but from heaven, appearing to all more<br />
bright than any lightning and brilliancy <strong>of</strong> light, with angel guards<br />
attended, that He may judge both quick and dead, and reign in a<br />
heavenly, eternal kingdom, which shall have no end. 1<br />
<strong>The</strong> true Christ, the Only-begotten Son <strong>of</strong> God, comes no more from the<br />
earth. If any come making false shows in the wilderness, go not forth; if<br />
they say, Lo, here is the Christ, Lo, there, believe it not. Look no longer<br />
downwards and to the earth; for the Lord descends from heaven; not<br />
1 Saint Cyril <strong>of</strong> Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures